Or choke with the death-thraw.”

Quo’ she, “To marry our daughter Meg

More wiselike would it be,

Than kill the hope of an old, old House

And strap him to the tree.”

Quo’ he, “If I were in his place,

I would refuse I ween,

And die a death upon the tree,

Than wed what I’d ne’er seen.

“Go ye, and tell our daughter Meg,